Yahoo Finance Did Changing Sentiment Drive Kraft Heinz's (NASDAQ:KHC) Share Price Down A Worrying 66%?
The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) shareholders should be happy to see the share price up 13% in the last quarter. But that is small recompense for the exasperating returns over three years. In that time, the share price dropped 66%. Some might say the recent bounce is to be expected after such a bad drop. The rise has some hopeful, but turnarounds are often precarious.
View our latest analysis for Kraft Heinz
To quote Buffett, 'Ships will sail around the world but the Flat Earth Society will flourish. There will continue to be wide discrepancies between price and value in the marketplace...' One way to examine how market sentiment has changed over time is to look at the interaction between a company's share price and its earnings per share (EPS).
During five years of share price growth, Kraft Heinz moved from a loss to profitability. That would generally be considered a positive, so we are surprised to see the share price is down. So it's worth looking at other metrics to try to understand the share price move.
We note that the dividend has declined - a likely contributor to the share price drop. It doesn't seem like the changes in revenue would have impacted the share price much, but a closer inspection of the data might reveal something.
The graphic below depicts how earnings and revenue have changed over time (unveil the exact values by clicking on the image).
We consider it positive that insiders have made significant purchases in the last year. Having said that, most people consider earnings and revenue growth trends to be a more meaningful guide to the business. This free report showing analyst forecasts should help you form a view on Kraft Heinz
What About Dividends?
As well as measuring the share price return, investors should also consider the total shareholder return (TSR). The TSR incorporates the value of any spin-offs or discounted capital raisings, along with any dividends, based on the assumption that the dividends are reinvested. Arguably, the TSR gives a more comprehensive picture of the return generated by a stock. As it happens, Kraft Heinz's TSR for the last 3 years was -62%, which exceeds the share price return mentioned earlier. And there's no prize for guessing that the dividend payments largely explain the divergence!
A Different Perspective
Pleasingly, Kraft Heinz's total shareholder return last year was 2.4%. That's including the dividend. That certainly beats the loss of about 27% per year over three years. The optimist would say this is evidence that the stock has bottomed, and better days lie ahead. I find it very interesting to look at share price over the long term as a proxy for business performance. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too. To that end, you should learn about the 4 warning signs we've spotted with Kraft Heinz (including 1 which is makes us a bit uncomfortable) .
Kraft Heinz is not the only stock insiders are buying. So take a peek at this free list of growing companies with insider buying.
Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on US exchanges.
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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
